In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Tom Merriam, Head of Corporate Strategy and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Organon.

Tom shares his remarkable journey from MedTech manufacturing to McKinsey consulting and into pharmaceutical executive leadership, driven by a personal mission to expand access to healthcare.

After experiencing serious health challenges in his teens,Tom developed a deep appreciation for quality healthcare and has dedicated his career to solving complex problems at scale across biotech and biopharma organizations.

Throughout the episode, Tom explores how C-suite leaders and senior executives can effectively harness their energy, build resilient teams during crises, and drive meaningful change in life sciences organisations.

Tom's insights on vision-driven leadership, thoughtful execution, and caring for stakeholders provide essential guidance for pharmaceutical and biotech executives navigating talent acquisition challenges and the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how pharmaceutical and biotech executives can identify and channel their natural energy toward solving complex biopharma challenges that align with personal mission and organizational values.
• Discover how C-suite leaders can translate organizational vision into compelling narratives that motivate teams across medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing environments.
• Understand how crisis management reveals executive character in life sciences organizations and the importance of establishing clear dual mandates in pharmaceutical leadership.
• Explore strategic career navigation for life sciences professionals by choosing opportunities based on potential impact rather than conventional wisdom.
• Apply the principle of progress over perfection to drive incremental improvements across pharmaceutical operations that C-suite executives can implement immediately.
• Gain insight into building competitive team dynamics within pharmaceutical manufacturing environments through KPI tracking and operational excellence.
• Take away leadership strategies for managing high-energy executive talent by creating environments where intensity becomes a strategic asset for life sciences organizations.

Timestamps & Topics

• 05:42 -- Three Key Leadership Ingredients for life sciences executives
• 13:18 -- Becton Dickinson medtech rotational program and manufacturing leadership
• 21:40 -- Building pharmaceutical team culture through competitive dynamics
• 32:18 -- Executive mentorship and growth in pharmaceutical operations
• 36:37 -- Crisis leadership in life sciences during pandemic response
• 56:10 -- Future of life sciences leadership: Innovation, M&A, and regulatory predictions

Snippets

• "The most difficult managerial challenge you will have in your entire life is that of managing yourself."
• "If you can't find a way for your people to care, you're going to have a really difficult time accomplishing whatever it is that you're after."
• "The energy is the capacity to do work right. That's the physics definition of energy."
• "We were losing money on every prescription, right, because of the cost of the airfreight. But we still kept the product flowing because that was the right thing to do."
• "Progress versus perfection. If you allow yourself to just focus on what perfect is, you oftentimes miss a lot of things."

Resources

• Follow Tom Merriam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasmmerriam/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don’t Miss an Episode

Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?

Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at activeingredients@fraserdove.com

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, hostThomas Dove interviews Ian Wells, former CFO at Hoya Vision Care, whose leadership approach redefines what finance leadership can be.

Ian reveals himself as "a business-focused andpeople-focused person" rather than just a numbers specialist, sharing how this mindset helped him build teams with zero attrition over five years.

His journey from KPMG to the mining industry and finally to life sciences showcases how finding purpose in each role shaped his leadership style.

Ian's philosophy of "eliminating the pedestal" in hierarchical structures and his commitment to being "a good human being" have created remarkable business results. With insights on empowerment through his "RA" framework - resource, authority, responsibility, and accountability - Ian demonstrates how modern CFOs can drive transformation through human connection.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the three key ingredients for leadership success according to Ian Wells: purpose, passion and vision; empowering teams to succeed; and being a good human being who is approachable and open.
• Learn how empowering teams directly impact financial results through increased engagement, better performance, and remarkably lower attrition - Ian experienced zero direct report turnover in five years.
• Explore the concept of "eliminating the pedestal" in leadership by asking "stupid questions," giving credit to team members with frontline knowledge, and creating a more flat organisational structure.
• Take away a practical framework for resource management using Ian's "RA" approach - providing the right resources and authority that allow teams to execute their responsibilities and be accountable for results.
• Understand how purpose-driven leadership transcends industry boundaries. Ian shows how finding meaning in mining and life sciences helped him connect teams to larger societal impacts beyond profit.
• Uncover strategies for building high-performing finance teams by defining the right structure, bringing in the right people, setting up regular touchpoints, and defining multi-year development paths.
• Gain insight into Ian's "traffic light" leadership style, where leaders primarily direct, support, and remove barriers for their teams rather than do the tactical work themselves.
• Learn why healthy leadership practices focusing on physical and mental well-being create better leaders. Ian shares his journey toward health-conscious leadership without becoming preachy.

Snippets

• “Give a man a fish or teach them how to fish. I’d rather teach people how to fish.”

• I'm not a finance-focused person. I'm a business-focused person and a people-focused person."
• "Without a doubt, you cannot be a modern leader if you're not empowering teams because, without the team's success, you as a leader will not be successful."
• "Bad leadership is just a lesson to make every leader better. Good leaders drive engagement. They have passion. They drive psychological safety, which is one of my non-negotiables of a workplace."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:15:13 - Three key ingredients of successful leadership
• 00:31:32 - Becoming CFO and COVID challenges
• 00:36:30 - Eliminating the pedestal in leadership
• 00:44:33 - Building teams with zero attrition
• 00:50:20 - Healthy leadership and wellbeing
• 01:00:59 - The future of leadership

Resources

• Follow Ian Wells on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwells-globalcfo/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don’t Miss an Episode

Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?

Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at activeingredients@fraserdove.com

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Kenneth Lee, EVP & COO at InSol.

Kenneth shares his unconventional career journey across Eastern and Western business cultures, from his beginnings as an introverted researcher to becoming a commercial leader who has scaled operations from the ground up.

The conversation explores Kenneth's formula for performance that balances precise metrics with genuine human connection, his experiences leading teams in different cultural contexts, and the power of taking calculated risks.

Kenneth's insights on building systems that allow teams to thrive with autonomy while maintaining accountability offer valuable lessons for leaders at any stage.

Key Takeaways

• Discover how genuine care transforms leadership effectiveness by dedicating meaningful time to team member. Kenneth follows a "70/30 rule" where 30% of his time is set aside for his team beyond task-focused interactions.

• Take away Kenneth's strategy for building credibility within your team by taking a challenging, high-impact project off their shoulders, demonstrating you're in the trenches with them.
• Understand how quantifiable, measurable metrics create freedom in remote and hybrid work environments, allowing team members to be rewarded for efficiency rather than hours worked.
• Explore the power of breaking down KPIs across the business cycle, measuring effort throughout the process rather than focusing solely on end financial results.

• Gain insight into the transformative impact of thinking in other people's shoes, a principle Kenneth applies to leadership, relationships, and business negotiations.

• Uncover how cultural transitions can catalyse personal growth. Kenneth shares his journey from being an introverted student in Korea to becoming an extroverted business leader after moving to the United States.

Snippets

• "Think in other people's shoes. If you do that, you will be successful as a leader, as a husband, as a friend, whether it be your career, your life, you will be liked and respected."
• "I had a personal motto at the time, challenge over stability, happiness over money. And that was when I was in my 20s, I set that motto and I completely followed that rule of my life."

• "It's not the work hour. It's about people's happiness, people's incentive, and a measurable and very well-defined KPI that drives people naturally."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:00 - Introduction: Thomas introduces Kenneth Lee and his unique leadership journey
• 06:09 - Kenneth's three key ingredients of successful leadership
• 07:07 - Genuine care and the 70/30 rule for leadership attention
• 08:42 - Smart but "lazy" leadership: creating systems that run themselves
• 09:42 - Taking on tough projects to demonstrate capability and build trust
• 12:00 - Early life and transformation from introvert to extrovert
• 14:25 - Career transition: from researcher to business development leader
• 17:28 - Choosing passion over finances: cutting salary in half for opportunity
• 19:23 - First leadership role and early misconceptions about leadership
• 21:51 - The most important leadership principle: thinking in others' shoes
• 24:02 - Moving back to the US to lead commercial operations
• 28:15 - Contrast between Korean and US work cultures
• 34:04 - Kenneth's commercial leadership formula and comprehensive KPI approach
• 36:32 - Creating structure that provides freedom: Kenneth's meeting framework
• 44:04 - Reflections on risk-taking and career development

Resources

• Follow Kenneth Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scholarken/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don’t Miss an Episode Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at activeingredients@fraserdove.com